Nine North Korean refugees sought shelter at the Danish Embassy in Vietnam on Thursday morning. They had arrived in Vietnam on early morning of Sept. 14 via China. They are reportedly asking the embassy to send them to Seoul.| If the Vietnamese really wanted to rattle the Chinese, they'd quietly do what Hungary did to end the Cold War. Hungary refused to return East German refugees to that unhappy place and instead let them move onto the West. After a little while of that the Wall came down. The Vietnamese could simply allow all Nork refugees to move on to Seoul, no questions asked. |
| Effective rather than subtle, so the refined personages at State will never think of it. |
The Danish Embassy is reportedly reluctant to shelter the nine North Koreans or send them to South Korea due to diplomatic considerations. The refugees include a married couple, a mother and her daughter, two women in their 40s and 20s, a teenage girl, and a 20-something man.
The refugees reportedly knocked at the doors of the Australian, Swedish and Philippine embassies in Hanoi. When there was no answer, they went into the Danish Embassy, where security was relatively loose.
The source said Vietnamese police officers guarding the embassy did not deter them as they took them for tourists.
| Sure. You see that all the time. North Korean tourists. Apparently they look like Danes. Must be the horns. |
A South Korean government official said, "We're trying to find out what happened. We'll try to guarantee their safety."